Too Soon
by THE KYO
Summary: Should he stay or should he go? Who would be the better choice? Can Naruto really decide between the two?
1. Too Soon

_**Title: **__Too Soon_

_**Pairing: **__NaruNeji one shot... sort of... hinted SasuNaru_

_**Inspiration: **__Was bored during first period._

_**Disclaimer: **__THAT'S MY PURSE!! I DON'T KNOW YOU!!_

"Do you think you will ever be able to forget?" he asked reproachfully, dreading the answer before it came.

"I don't know."

He already knew.

"And this..." he motioned towards the bed, the rumpled sheets. "... it means nothing."

A pause; a sigh.

"It's more complicated than that."

"Enlighten me."

The blonde shut his eyes, breathing deeply from his nose. "Some things aren't so easy."

There was silence, broken by the occasional chirp of a bird that perched itself inside a tree outside of the window.

Somewhere there were two people shouting, a dog howled into the moonless night.

The boy on the bed, covered only in thin white sheets began to cry softly.

"Even still... you search for him."

"It's my obligation to bring him back. I don't have a choice."

"Your choice is here, in front of you... stay."

The blonde was tempted, but hesitant. He wanted to stay, but he needed to go. He longed to be here, with the person he knew could love him through all his faults, in all of his transgressions, when others called him a moron, when the rest of them turned him away. He was there.

To help a friend and gain a lover, that is what was done. Beliefs were changed, attitudes were altered, relationships were formed, in more ways than one. But now another friend was in need.

What was the right choice?

Stay? or go?

Love? or admiration?

Neji? or Sasuke?

"Neji..."

Soft lips, pleading.

"Please, Naruto..."

Iridescent eyes, begging.

"... I want to... but..."

Hands coaxing, urgent.

"Stay with me... please."

A wet tongue broke through soft pleading lips, rewarded with a sigh. Strong, tanned hands buried themselves within loose chestnut brown strands of hair. Thin, pale arms pulled him closer.

Too soon was it over.

The bird outside their window finished it's song, fluttering away.

"I'm sorry."


	2. Too Soon 2

Neji awoke alone, in the silence of the night, as disappointed as the night before, cursing Naruto for leaving him once again.

_Am I not enough?_

_Is he so infatuated with that person that I am invisible in his eyes?_

_This bond... what is it? Is it something worth pursuing or should I let it go?_

_**Just let it go**__._ A voice in his mind whispers to him. Neji had the strong urge to obey.

_He will return, but this, it has to end. It needs to end._

"I can't do this anymore."

The wind whispers past the leaves of the trees as the two shinobi stand facing each other. The silence persisted longer than one would consider comfortable. Naruto stood, staring at Neji with an unreadable look in his eyes.

"Neji, you knew and understood the situation before we started this. Why change now?"

The Hyuuga's face was stern. "I don't believe I owe you any type of explanation."

Naruto snorted. "At least tell me why you want to leave me."

"We were never together. How can I leave something that was never mine?"

"Neji..."

"Why don't you just let me go? You don't need me."

The harsh words stung, like the prick of a thousand kunai to his chest; burned like the flames of the kyuubi's chakra trying to eat through his flesh. Naruto breathed deeply, attempting to recover from the blow. It was unsettling... in his mind he knew that his was the logical choice. To stay with Neji would only provoke tragedy, heartache. But it was that same heart at risk that screamed at him, that protested. This wasn't right. He shouldn't let the Hyuuga go, that was what his his heart was saying. His feelings for Uchiha did not run as deep nor as strong as they did for Neji. The blonde was confused.

Neji or Sasuke.

Love or Loyalty.

Neji made a move to leave; Naruto lifted a hand to stop him, eyes very uncertain.

"Don't go..." But those were not the words that he wanted to say. There was so much more he needed to explain to the brunette, but Neji was furious. He began to yell, Naruto's arm was pushed away; he thought he saw a shadow of a tear pool at the corner of the Hyuuga's eye. Even though the male before him yelled at him in anger and frustration, the blonde couldn't help to think how beautiful he was... how much fire was in those pale, pale eyes. At the end of his burst of emotion, Neji muttered the words that brought the Uzumaki's feelings about the Hyuuga into a new light.

"Why do you care? I was a toy, right? Something for you to just throw away... I was just a substitute for Sasuke." And then the pale boy began to do something that Naruto would have never imagined seeing the proud brunette do in his entire lifetime. Out of the teen shinobi's averted eyes came heavy tears that, once they started to fall, didn't seem like they wanted to stop. The blonde took a hesitant step forward and encircled the brunette in his arms. Neji tried feebly to struggle away, but once the strong, tan arms enveloped his thin frame, there wasn't much he could do in terms of fighting back.

"No matter... what a-anyone tries to do for you... You-you only thing about h-him. I-I..." Naruto's heart fell to pieces at the helpless, broken sobs. He tried to quiet the male in his arms, telling him to hush when he tried and failed to say more of the things that were on his mind.

"You don't have to say anymore." His arms squeezed tighter around the Hyuuga. "Please..."

After many, many minutes of holding the teen close to him while the last of his sobs died down, Naruto reluctantly allowed the brunette to pull away from him slightly. The warm tears that soaked through his jacket soon began to cool as their owner looked up into the Uzumaki's face. Naruto licked his lips slightly before tilting his head to the side.

"Neji, I want to fix this, the pain that I've caused you. I want to make it better." He cupped the Hyuuga's soft cheeks in his hands. "Please... tell me how I can make it better."

For a moment, Neji merely looked up at him with wide, pale eyes, but then his face pulled into a frown. His searching eyes grazed over the rest of the Uzumaki's face before they came back to land on the male's vivid blue eyes again. "I want you to take responsibility."

Kyo - Short, I know, but the first one wasn't very long either. I luffles you, Neji and gives you lots of Fluffy Naruto. ;;


End file.
